Perfect Lies From Her Perfect Aim
by deactivated001
Summary: They hadn't always been together and their story isn't as beautiful or dramatic as one of Shakespeare's, but the complications and heartbreak has her convinced that if she and Azazel wrote down their life in a poem it could go down in history too.
1. Part 1

Dedication to Raven and Azazel from my Raven/Tony Stark story over on dA, so they story has mentions of Iron Man and whatnot.

xxxxx

"Bye, Tony!" Raven grins and blows a kiss to him. He waves whole heartedly back before both Tony and Howard disappear up stairs. Raven let her form melt away to her natural, more comfortable skin, and goes to walk away from Azazel, but he grips her bicep, yanking her back to him and against his chest.

"What's wrong?" She asks, and the intensity in his eyes scares her.

"No lie?" Azazel pauses. "You want children?" Raven '_ah_'s' in understanding.

"Well, yeah… But in our world it's kind of a stupid idea, don't you think? '_A war is coming'_" Raven mimics Erik's voice perfectly, making a face (with her own) that she thinks resembles the way Erik would say the words, and Azazel isn't impressed. She watches him for a long moment, her eyes questioning.

"Azazel, we aren't even together." She sighs, looking away from him.

"We may as well be." He answers, following her as she walks away. "We have no other." Raven pauses and turns back to him.

"You're close with Emma, and I have- have Erik." She stammers, and she swallows nothing. Azazel brings his hand up and pushes a piece of Raven's hair behind her ear; she's started to wear her hair longer; having grown old with the short, out of style hair.

"Is it such a…" He pauses, trying to find the right words. She's not as delicate as she looks, but with delicate subjects, she's easy to crumble. "Does it disgust you to bear my child?" He questions, and Azazel knows it's definitely not disgust. But he's always been a bit manipulative, if nothing.

"Of course not." She snaps.

"Then what is stopping you?"

"That it could turn out just like us!" She wails out, moving away from him. "That they be teased and bullied because they look different. In a human dominant world, there is no room for a child of ours." Azazel could imagine the child; she'd be beautiful with red skin and the same lovely scales that run along Raven's body, with black hair and yellow eyes. There's a possibility that she would have a tail, and be a shape-shifter or have the ability to teleport all over the world and read minds. There is no genetically possibly way for their child to be human.

She'd be mutant, and she'd grow up understanding that in all the worlds, she is the most beautiful.

Woman on his dimension are extremely beautiful with curvaceous bodies, tinted different shades of red with black hair and light eyes. He resolved when he was a young boy that he wanted a daughter; but he needed a male heir and as Prince could only take a woman who would bare him a son.

He just didn't expect Raven to come along… Or the attack that led him to be stranded in the human world with his ability to teleport back to his own dimension stolen from him.

"We could protect h-"

"Protection only goes so far, Azazel. Look where it got us last time? The C.I.A offered protection then sent missiles on us." She snaps bitterly. His hands clench into fists at his side as he stares at her.

"You doubt my skill." He replies and he can see her fight the urge to roll her eye, and she walks back towards him, placing her hands on his cheeks and bringing him down to her level.

"I don't doubt you at all." She murmurs. "I doubt this world. Our child can never have a life if her or she turns out to have a physical mutation." Raven lets go of him and turns away again. "I don't want them to go through the same thing I went through.

xxxxx

Of course, Azazel is understanding, and he understood where Raven was coming from. In his dimension, the human looking mutants were the _freaks _and _outcasts _and the darker the red, the purer your blood. Azazel is a dark shade and never had to worry about what others had thought; after all, he _was_ a Prince- if someone had a bad thought about him, they were executed.

Raven came from a human dominant world where even the disabled and homosexual (something extremely common on his dimension) were labelled freaks- they were mentally and physically abused, and a lot murdered. He _understood_.

But they have both joined a movement; a movement to ensure that any of their children, no matter the mutation, would be accepted into society and treated like humans.

The sex that night had been rough and not entirely pleasant- Azazel was far too distracted and Raven… suspicious. When it was over, she turned on her side with her back to him and he stared at the celling.

"You are being difficult." He mutters. The bed shifts as she turns to face him.

"Difficult? Me? Never." She utters sarcastically. He rolls his blue eyes up to hers. "I wish you'd see from my point of view. Azazel- we aren't even dating, we don't even _love _each other. That isn't a house hold to raise a child in. Especially with how we are always coming and going; we _murder _people for a living." He raises a brow, not impressed. She sighs and rolls onto her back, staring up at the celling.

They are silent for a good five minutes while Azazel thinks of a rebuke, and then he thinks of Tony. The young boy who they have only known for two months at most, who has become a huge part in theirs – especially Raven's- life in such a short time.

"What about Tony?" He questions, and she turns her head to him.

"What about him? Wait-" She cuts herself off and thinks real hard about what she's about to say next. "You mean… kidnap him?" She asks it so seriously, and the way her brow raises- Azazel lets out a long, genuine laugh while she glares at him.

"Of course not." He laughs out, and she smacks his chest. She leaves her hand there and twirls her finger in the dark hair there. He sobers up quickly and turns his head to look at her. "How will you feel when you cannot see him no longer?" Raven's eyes water slightly, and he places his hand on her cheek, and she presses into the touch. "I am not trying to manipulate you." He states, and he looks up at him. "You won't be the only one affected by his leave."

"We could… could visit?" She suggests hopefully, and he runs his thumb along her cheekbone and smiles sadly.

"You think Howard, let alone Magneto, will allow this?" His voice is low and smooth, and it offers little to no comfort to her.

"No but…" Her eyes dart down. She lays her head on his chest and he lets the subject drop when her hand moves from his chest to his stomach. She hesitates for only a moment before grabbing a hold of him and he tenses, his breathing stops as she works her hand up and then down before looking up at him. She continues to work him while she looks up at him from under her lashes, and then she's straddling his hips and grinding down onto him.

"Ughnnn." He groans as he closes his eyes, gripping her hips tightly. She rests her hands on the headboard above his head and smirks down at him.

"Are we really doing this?" She hasn't stopped her movements, but her features are considerably softer. Shakily, he grasps her face in both of his hands and pulls her to him, pressing his lips firmly to hers and tells her yes.

"We are."

She turns her face into his palm and kisses there softly, and her soft look is replaced by repressed excitement, and she reaches between them, grasps his hard member and presses herself down onto him.

He falls back with his eyes closed and groans.

xxxxx

It seems to be that Raven is infertile. Or Azazel is sterile. Or his species don't mix well with hers and they are unable to breed.

Azazel confessed that he can't remember a Neyaphem/Human crossbreed before.

After three months of trying to get pregnant, Emma – who was the only one in their house that knew they were trying to conceive, and supported them whole-heartedly- brought a doctor in to run tests on the both of them (erasing his mind after it, of course).

Turns out they're both healthy; Raven isn't infertile, there's nothing wrong with her ovaries or womb or herself, and the same goes for Azazel.

For some reason, they just didn't mix well.

Raven thought it was 'Gods' way of saying "You're a fucking abomination and HAHA! The only man you'd ever consider to let impregnate you, can't."

She cried, of course; she'd gotten her hopes up. She wanted the red skinned little girl that Azazel had described to her, that had her eyes and scales and everything of her that Azazel considered beautiful.

Erik was flabbergasted as to why his most trusted subordinate couldn't go into a mission; why she stayed in her room and cried her heart out for days.

Azazel finally told him; she had a miscarriage.

Not the truth, but it might as well have been with how she was feeling.

So when Raven felt the bed shift under new weight and Azazel's arm wrap around her waist from behind, she didn't move into or move away from the touch. He ended up pulling her closer, moulding his body around hers and resting his head behind hers. She felt his nose in her hair and his thumb stroking her hip comfortingly, but nothing really registered.

"I am sorry." He whispered behind her.

"You didn't do anything." She sniffled; because he hadn't. It wasn't his fault inter-species breeding is impossible between them. She interlocked her fingers with his on her hip and squeezed, because somewhere in her mind, it registered that he needed comfort too.

_Thanks Emma_.

The answering warmth that flooded her body and the sudden disappearance of stray thoughts in her mind told her that Emma was giving them privacy, and she only wanted to help.

"I failed you." He murmured, and his voice sounded slightly broken.

"No." She said. "Just shut up and hold me; you know we both need it."

They stayed like that for a while, and fatigue hit suddenly and she just wanted to sleep; wrapped in the arms of the only man she could trust.

"What was it like… growing up?" She questioned. He didn't say anything for a moment, and she thought he might be asleep with the steady rise and fall of his chest at her back.

"I was a Prince." He says finally, and she makes a surprised noise in the back of her throat; they never talked about their childhood, except the time when he first brought up a child and she'd confessed her own. "Born two thousand years go." Her body shook with her laugh, and he just buried his nose in the junction where her neck met her shoulder. "I had three older sisters who could not become Queen unless I married one of them- they were very jealous of my being born a boy.

"My father was a kind man but ruled with a- what is your human term?" He pauses to think of the word, and she _loves _his cluelessness about her language. "'Iron fist.' He loved my sisters more than myself and I did not acquire his affections." She squeezes his hand again, and he squeezes back. "But my mother shared her love equally. My father's General of his army taught me how to fight using all sorts of weaponry, and I excelled in all I had learnt. My father was very proud by the time I was of age." He pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath and pulls her closer to him. "All my sisters were very harsh and cruel to me; but when I was of age, my mother explained that they were setting me up to be an ideal _man_; to be strong in the face of words. My mother often told me that words are the greatest weapon a King could have." Raven grunts in agreement, but it's not enough.

"You're mother sounds very wise." Azazel nods in agreement.

"She was the true ruler of our dimension; my father would often go to her for advice." He laughs to himself for a moment and burrows into the heat of her body. "It was predicted by our Seer's that I would end an enemy race of ours; we knew not which one, but it would come shortly after my Crowning." Azazel sighs sadly, and before he starts talking again, she lets got of his hand and turns in his arms; slinging a leg between his legs and pressing her face to his chest. He hugs her to him tightly, and wound up in him, Raven feels some of her despair slipping away.

"On the day of my Crowning, the enemy attacked. They were green skinned and had technology while my people were stuck in the past. The device they carried with them _forced _me to teleport to this world, and once I was here I could not return." He pauses and presses his nose into her hair. "They had stolen my ability to return home." The pain in his voice gives her an involuntary response; panic. She didn't understand it, but she nailed it down to that she had never heard or seen him sad, nostalgic, overly angry or wistful, and she was used to that- his happy, often cold exterior, and it was her safety blanket because while everyone changed around her, she expected him to stay the same.

They'd been together for a year, and she realised then that she didn't really know him; not like Emma would know him, at least.

She presses a chaste kiss to his exposed chest and looks up at him to find him staring down at her.

"My dimension now would still be battling a war and in anarchy; my father cannot… it's illegal for him to rule any longer and a woman cannot rule…."

"Azazel…" She presses her palm to his cheek and he presses into the heat. "I'm so sorry."

"No." He smirks suddenly, and leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead. "Just shut up and hold me; you know we both need it." She grins and rolls her eyes, leaning up and pressing a firm kiss to his red lips, and for a second her tongue darts out and licks his bottom one.

They both know they won't go any further than that tonight; both too mentally fatigued to engage in the act.

So instead, they fall asleep in each-other's arms.

xxxxx

The subject of _child_ isn't brought up until two years later. Tony, he's six years old now and his name is written on magazines as being the boy genius- fitting into his father's shoes perfectly as he takes apart and rebuilds an engine. Raven's immensely proud; the boy she helped raise would excel in anything he wanted when he is older, and even though she has no relation at all to the young boy, the love she feels for him can only be labelled as motherly.

Cerebro is almost finished, and she knows that within the year, she will be no longer be able to see her little boy, and she can tell that Azazel is dreading the day too.

The day they find Anna-Marie couldn't be described as a joyous one, not at all. It was raining, and while they walked down the street in civilian form, they heard her shrill screams from the ally way across from them. Raven can tell it's a child in distress (she'd come accustomed to Tony's different screams in the three years she's known him) and she runs towards the child.

They find her in a pool of, who they can only guess is her mothers and fathers, blood while the rain beat down heavily on her.

Raven had rushed to her, picked her up and commanded Azazel to take them to their home in Malibu. Anna-Marie wouldn't stop screaming and Raven didn't know what to do- she suspected that she missed her parents.

Raven bathes her and rugged her up in blanket after blanket to keep the chill away. She is a gorgeous baby of only a year old, and she only knows her name and how old she is because of her first name, Anna-Marie, and the year 1972, carved into a silver bracelet around her wrist. She has light blue eyes that will surely change with age, and soft blonde curls and chubby cheeks.

When Azazel goes to the bodies of her parents, he finds them missing. He brings back dippers and pacifiers and bottles and milk and clothes that look like they might fit her.

"_So she is comfortably whilst in our care." _He explains, and Raven takes them and thanks him a million times over while he heats up a bottle of baby milk.

It's still not a joyous occasion when Raven feeds the bottle to Anna-Marie for the first time, or the first time Anna-Marie falls asleep in her arms with a tear stained face and running nose.

They watch the TV constantly for news on her parent's death. It turns out that they had been Jeff and May Smith, hippies who sold drugs and they had been jumped from behind- their drugs taken from them as well as their lives, while Anna-Marie had been left unharmed with blood stained clothes and a cold.

They mentioned nothing of a daughter. Not for the two days their death had been on the news and in the local paper.

It had been while Azazel played with a curl of Anna-Maries hair while she slept (thankfully soundly) in Raven's arms that he suggested that they keep her.

Slowly, she had put Anna-Marie down in the centre of the bed with a bunch of pillows around her so she wouldn't roll off, and she had gripped Azazel's had so tightly she suspected she might crush it and lead him into a different room.

"You're out of your mind, right?" She had questioned, her lips forming a tense line. Azazel studied her quietly.

"There are no records of a 'Anna-Marie Smith' from 1972." He explained. Raven went to answer back, but found herself halted.

"How do you know this?" She asked suspiciously. Azazel eyed her as he took a step back, lifting his chin in the air slightly.

"Emma." He answered, and Raven narrowed her eyes.

"She's not an animal, Azazel; we can't just 'keep' her." Raven rests her hands on her hips and Azazel crosses his arms over his chest.

"Well." Azazel started haughtily. "It is too bad for you, because the child needs a home. Emma has already entered the documents starting us as her parents into government files." He smirks, and Raven stares wide eyed for a moment before curling her lip.

"You and Emma think you've done something _good_, don't you?" She snaps, storming towards him. Azazel loses his smirk and steps back. "You're insane! She's not our child Azazel! She's a human- why… how can you be so stupid?" It's asked with so much hurt that Azazel falters. "You don't even realise what you've done!" She cries, and then she presses the heel of her palms to her eyes to stop tears.

"What have I done?" He questions, gripping her arms softly.

"She's human!" Raven snaps, pushing him away from her. "And you're an immortal! I'm going to live for at least 200 years!" She yells, and she seems to have forgotten that there's a child sleeping in the other room. "She'd be lucky to live to eighty!" Raven throws her arms in the air and starts to pace the length of the room while Azazel watches quietly. She pauses and stares at him. "How can you be so dense? Oh god… oh god. I'll have to go through it agai-"

"Raven."

"…Again. First with… our first attempts, then I won't be able to see Tony-"

"Raven!" She has this amazingly annoying habit to rant and rant and rant and to ignore people while she's at it, so Azazel walks up to her and spins her to face him, gripping her jaw roughly in his hands to force her to _shut up _and listen to him.

"-Anymore. Then again with Anna." She whispers finally, brokenly.

"She's a mutant." Azazel says finally, and he can see it doesn't register straight away. "She has a mutation that _steals _other mutants powers. From humans Anna could take their memories and life force just by touching them. If she is in constant contact with us… she could live to the same age as you."

"How… how do you know?" Raven whispers, and he loosens his grip on her jaw to run his thumb over her lip.

"Magneto's scientists ran tests on her blood. He confirmed that if she is with us constantly, she will not physically _and _mentally reach puberty for _at least _23 years."

"What?" Raven asks and Azazel smiles.

"You will have a _child_ for the next 20 years if you accept her. She will age almost as slowly as you do." Her digestion of everything he just told her is interrupted by the shrill scream of Anna-Marie in the next room, and Raven _sprints _to her. When Azazel reaches the room, Anna-Marie is sucking greedily on the tip of Raven's finger, trying to hold her hand in place while she did so.

Raven doesn't look up at him straight away- just stares at Anna-Marie who's eyes remain focused on Raven's blue hand.

"Are we really doing this?" She quotes, and she looks up at him with tears in her beautiful yellow eyes. He smiles and moves towards her, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

"Yes." He recites. "We are."

xxxxx

"Where did you get her, Raven?" Tony questions, his eyes wide with childhood innocents as he stares down at the child in Raven's arms. Raven smiles at him and kisses the crown of his head.

"The stalk brought her of course!" She laughs and he grins up at her, and he swiftly catches the ball Azazel throws at him. Azazel grins wide at Tony and Tony grins back, throwing the ball. It didn't make the distance, but Azazel did and he caught it swiftly, throwing it back at Tony.

It's been two weeks since they _adopted _Anna, and for those weeks they had gotten acquainted with their new baby girl. It still felt odd; to have a child that she hadn't given birth too, or to introduce her as daughter for the first time to Erik, Emma, Janos…

She's not used to it, but she's still hesitant to hand her over to anyone, even Azazel.

She can't walk or talk and by the looks of it has only just started to crawl; her parents had neglected her. She'd settled down after three days, becoming accustomed to the both of them rather quickly.

She absolutely _loved _Azazel's tale and the feel of Raven's scales and cried hysterically when at least one of them weren't in the room with her, and she didn't take to kindly with anyone else.

Except Janos- Anna had taken a liking to him. If he was around, she preferred him to anyone else. And Janos didn't mind; he took a liking to her too.

Then Azazel had told her that siblings _should_ get along, and then continued on to explain that Janos had been in Azazel's company since Janos was seven years old.

Azazel really loved children, she realized, even when he was a stuffy prince from another dimension, he always wanted a child.

And she is unable to give him one.

Azazel caught the ball and Tony turned to her quickly. "Can I hold her?" Raven paused and looked up at Azazel. They knew how strong Anna is on mutants- leaving them feeling _slightly _weak, but she didn't know how she would be with humans, _especially _a six year old.

Azazel nods, and Raven smiles down at Tony. Anna is considerably small for her age and is about the size of a five month old baby, but she looks _giant_ in Tony's small arms.

Tony grins down at Anna, who's still sleeping soundly, and touches her nose. She jerks away slightly and so he pokes her cheek softly.

"She's so pretty!" He declares, hugging her closer to him. Raven grins and runs her hand through Tony's hair.

"She is, isn't she?"

xxxxx

It's three weeks later that Howard and Maria Stark are killed in a car accident. _Cerebro is unfinished _Erik reminds everyone _Years and millions of dollars wasted!_

Not like two people had just been killed; not like the man Erik had been working with for three years had just _died_, and there was a possibility that said man had fallen in love with Erik.

Not that Erik cared. After all, Howard is human.

Raven tries not to cry; Tony is alive and safe in Obadiah's sure hands, and she can still watch him grow up from the side lines.

Azazel's stoned face and passive through the whole ordeal and Raven knows he's hurting as well. For a few weeks, he spends a lot of his time either doing extra missions or playing with Anna, avoiding Raven. He did this the first time; when they found out they couldn't have children.

He didn't again when Angel died from an X-Men attack, and again when he _felt _his father die through the bond that the Royal Neyaphem shared.

She understood that when he's hurting, he refuses comfort; more comfortable giving it to someone than receiving it.

He _always _came back to her after it though, so she knew it wouldn't be long.

Anna squealed in her cot; Azazel had been gone for almost four days this time, and Anna was starting to miss his tale.

"Hey baby." Raven whispered as she stroked her cheek. "Momma's here." Emma had forced her and Azazel to refer to each other as Mom, Momma, Mother and Dad, Papa or Father- while extremely weird to accidently say 'Papa' after calling it him for the past three weeks whilst in bed, she knew that it would preserve her own safety from Emma… who demanded to be called 'Aunty.'

Azazel had a good laugh, and the next night asked her if she wanted to play "Mommy and Daddy".

Raven hated using it; she thought that a child should have the right to know that they were adopted and get used to it as they grew, instead of finding out on their 18th birthday. She had been adopted herself before she had met Charles, and Alois and Jane Darkholme raised her to know that she was adopted, because, like Anna, her parents had died and Alois wanted her to know her parents. It was weird logic, but it was the way Raven grew up…

Until her mutation kicked in and Jane held her shoulders down while Alois had his hands wrapped around her neck, pushing her down further into the water.

"Daaaad!" Anna squealed tearfully, and despite her tantrum, Raven grinned. She quickly scoped her up and hugged her tightly.

"Aw baby! Your first word!" Raven tried not to scream in excitement _too _loudly, and she moved Anna to the bed where all her toys are. "Azazel!" She shouted, and then frowned when she realized he wasn't in the other room. She stares down at Anna and grabs her soother, offering it to the girl. Anna slammed her hand against the soother and knocks it out of Ravens hands.

"Daaaaad!" She screams and Raven sighs, pushing her hand soothingly through Anna's curly hair. She stayed like that for a few minutes before the scent of sulphur offended her senses.

"You called." Azazel says smoothly. At the sound of his voice, Anna calms immediately, looking around wildly for her father. Azazel runs the pad of his thump over Anna's brow and she gurgles happily; the red blotches on her face fading as her screams stopped.

"She said her first word." Raven says, looking down at the smiling girl. She lifted her up and Azazel accepted her with grace, resting her against his hip and pressing his hand against her back. He smiles softly down at Anna and avoids Ravens gaze.

"What was it?" He questions.

"You've been gone for four days." Raven says, and Azazel finally looks at her. He is tired, she can tell, his eyes dropping though he smiles widely Anna a few moments ago, and his shoulders slightly hunched over.

Physically, not being able to see Tony is affecting him more, while Raven held her tears at bay because at the moment she resents Erik more than anyone.

"I highly doubt that." He says dryly, and Raven narrows her eyes.

"Dad." She snaps. "She said Dad because you were gone for four days and you missed it." Raven stands up and walks over to her dresser which held Azazel's and Anna's clothes. Raven didn't wear any; being a shape shifter allowed her to manifest clothes from her skin, though it _hurt _like hell when Emma would grab at a cute dress she might have been wearing and coyly say _What a pretty _dress _you're wearing, Raven_.

She opens the dresser and pulls out Azazel's clothes and dumps them into the box at her side.

They're moving to Yaroslavl; the town in Russia that had been Azazel's first home on Earth, in two days. Raven had told Erik after Howard died; the lack of emotion he showed towards his friend's death had really hit home with her; it reminded her of Charles. Azazel had suggested they move, and Raven jumped to the idea right away. The packing was done besides their room; they still had their bed, Anna's cot and toys as well as a dresser full of clothes.

"Did you say Dad?" Azazel coos, and Anna giggles. "Say Dad." He commands, and Raven fights the urge to smile; she's still angry. Anna just giggles harder and Azazel groans. "Silly girl." Slamming the dresser closed with more force than needed, she turns and leans against it while watching them.

They have a stare off for a minute or so before Anna slaps her hand against Azazel's chest, and a second later his tail is darting back and forth in front of her playfully.

"Would a sorry satisfy you?" Azazel questions, and the way he offers it in a sense of indifference sends a pang to Raven stomach and he eyes widen in outrage.

"Does it look like it?" She snaps and his eyes flash. "You aren't the only one hurting here, Azazel! Tony was as much mine as he was yours. I'm probably being selfish, but I don't care because you're being selfish too!" Raven pauses and her eyes dart down to Anna and back up. "You have a daughter now; you can't be gone for days on end like that. I can handle it, she can't." Raven's voice lost its edge towards the end, and she looked down at her feet.

There's a moment of silence between the two before Azazel's heavy steps sounded through the room as he made his way towards her. When he stops walking, he's standing two feet away from her.

"You can?" He questions, and for a moment she's lost, but then her eyes lighten with registration.

"Sure." She says thickly. "I've been doing it this whole time." Azazel has always had this thing of _always _being able to calm Raven down with his presence, and the soothing brush of his mind against hers. He never read her thoughts, _never have too_ he murmured once _you wear your heart on your sleeve_ but just knowing he is there, in her mind, comforted her to no end.

"I'm sorry." He steps forward and touches her arm softly. "I will never leave again." Then he presses his lips firmly to hers. It would have been a great kiss, really, if Anna wasn't between them and his tail pressing against her stomach in the most uncomfortable way while he pulls her closer with his free arm.

Raven laughs against his lips and pushes him back. Anna glares up at the both of them and Raven was rewarded with Azazel's extremely uncommon laugh. Raven smiles at him and his tail abandons Anna and curls around Ravens waist, giving an affectionate squeeze.

xxxxx

Eight years later, Azazel and Raven have three homes; their main one in Yaroslavl and one in Budapest, Hungary, as well as one in New York; a respectable distance away from the Brotherhood. They haven't officially left the Brotherhood, but Raven and Azazel only accept missions _they _want to do, and only if it can fit in with Emma's and Janos schedule because like _hell _would Azazel leave his only daughter in the hands of Erik. Not that Raven would either, but she trusts Erik a fair more than Azazel does.

Anna's growth is going exactly how the scientist predicted. She looks like a four year old with curly brown hair with a peculiar white strip coming from her fringe, and big brown eyes and a wide smile and a button nose.

She's the most gorgeous child that Raven has ever seen, and a sense of motherly pride is always surrounding her whenever Anna is in the same room. She's talks and walks amazing for her age but not too smart, but Raven thinks optimistically that she still had a good 15 years to work on it.

Right now, Anna's sleeping at Emma's house while, right now, Azazel is pounding mercilessly down into Raven's body. Not that she minds; they haven't been able to have sex in _ages_.

She wraps her legs tightly around his hips while he rests his head against her breasts; his body arched in a way the he can look between them and watch as his incredibly thick, flaming red dick pounds into her. And it only heightens her arousal, even if the position is somewhat uncomfortable- both of them are extremely flexible.

He comes before she does, and he groans his release against her left breast and takes the nipple between his teeth and bites down. She arches her back and moans, and he slips out of her to replace his dick with three fingers.

He doesn't get to bring her to release, because a sudden sense of nausea overwhelms her and she flees from the bed to her bathroom, where she continues to spew up what she'd had for dinner.

When she's done, she rests her head against her arm on the toilet seat and groans. The light steps of Azazel make her look up.

He's naked and redder than usual with his hair in disarray and looking worn out and slightly satisfied. Then she realizes that it isn't just post coital bliss that has he flushed a deeper red than he already is- it's embarrassment.

"Could you get me some water?" She questions thickly, and he nods, disappearing from the room and reappearing a moment later with a water bottle in his hands. She accepts in kind and gurgles the water in her mouth before spitting it into the toilet and flushing it.

"I'm sorry." She says, and Azazel rolls his eyes, walking up behind her and offering a hand to help her up.

"Don't be stupid." He says, and she smiles up at him.

"It was probably the food."

Two weeks later and it definitely wasn't the food. Her periods a week late and she's already got the tell tail bump of pregnancy.

"How is this even possible?" Raven demands as Emma soothers her hair back while Raven leans over the toilet bowl to throw up _anything _that is left in her stomach from the day before. Emma grumbles behind her and Raven thinks of how _funny _it might be to get some of her regurgitated food on the pristine white clothes of Emma's uniform.

"Don't even think about it." Emma snaps, yanking on Raven's hair. "And I don't know." Emma shrugs. "Azazel's race is a mystery. Maybe he wasn't _mature _enough to have a child."

"He's 2,000 years old." Raven says dryly. Emma doesn't look convinced.

"Maybe _you _weren't mature enough. You _do_ age slower than normal, so maybe you're eggs-"

"I've had my period for over forty years." Emma rolls her eyes.

"Ok, fine. We'll call your pregnancy a miracle… unless you had sex with someone else…" Emma tries to hide her smirk while Raven just glares at her.

"I'd never cheat on Azazel, not even if I wanted a child." Raven confesses as she gets to her feet, walking to the sink and splashing water on her face, gurgling once to get rid of the foul taste.

"Well… you aren't _really_ together." Emma says as she follows Raven out of the room. "You're there for convenience- to look after Anna."

Emma's right of course, because Azazel and Raven aren't in a relationship; they have a daughter together, and another baby on the way, they have sex whenever they feel like it and openly show their _affection _for each other in front of their friends… they live together.

But they aren't in a relationship.

"So it really wouldn't be cheating." Emma summarises. Raven thinks on it for a moment before shaking her head.

"I don't know… it… no, I could never sleep with anyone else." Emma watches her for a moment, and Raven's hands unconsciously go down to her stomach. Emma crocks her head to the side.

"Do you… love him? I wouldn't be surprised but… you don't seem like the _loving _type."

"Just like you don't seem like the _caring_ type, but people surprise you." Raven snaps back and Emma grins.

"I'm full of surprises, sweetie." Then Emma waits patiently for Raven to answer her question.

"I don't know… I mean, I can't even _think _about losing him. And when he goes away for more than a day I start to panic… but that's hardly… Hmm." Raven's mouth formed a hard line and the corner of Emma's mouth turned up.

"Maybe you should talk to him about it?" She offered, and Raven quickly shook her head.

"No, I can't do that." Emma rolled her eyes and stood up, walking over to Raven. Emma is taller than her, adding to the intimidating effect.

"You're both going to have a baby together in a few months, and I know one of your problems about wanting a baby was that you didn't want it growing up in a loveless home." Emma places her hand over Raven's on her stomach and squeezes softly. "I've known Azazel a lot longer than you have, honey, and I know him better than even you do. Trying can't hurt."


	2. Part 2

Despite Raven being over three weeks pregnant, she and Azazel hadn't talked about it all that much. Erik had him replace Janos on a mission that lasted a week- after that he slept for two whole days and then went on another mission to recruit another mutant which lasted three days and he came back and had to stay in the hospital for another day and a half because of extensive burns, then when they finally had the chance to talk, Erik had called her for a meeting.

The only skin contact she had with him was a hand to her stomach and a kiss to the forehead.

So when she did go to the meeting, she warned Erik not to give Azazel any missions until after they had talked about the baby. Erik had been angry, of course, but then she reminded him that if it weren't for Janos and Emma, she and Azazel wouldn't even be in America.

So now, once again, Raven leans over the toilet and dry heaves, while Azazel stays in bed. Apparently, human vomit affected his senses and he couldn't be near it. It's obviously not true, but she humoured him, because Raven didn't exactly like him seeing her like this.

When she finally felt her stomach settle, she washed her mouth out and brushed her teeth and walked back into the room, collapsing onto the bed and into his arms.

"I've missed you." He murmurs into her hair, and she smiles.

"I missed you too. Don't ever be gone for that long again." She snaps, but there's no heat behind her words. He laughs airily and she presses against him.

"Never." He promises, and his hand moves from her hip to her stomach.

"I thought…"

"I know." He pauses while his fingers splay against her stomach. "I do not know how either. Maybe…" He trails off, and she doesn't expect him to continue, because her pregnancy is as mysterious to her as it is to him.

"Maybe we should just accept that we are finally having our own child." He says finally, and she nods.

"Are pregnancies different on your dimension? Because I don't want to wake up yellow or something." He grins and she relishes in the sight, because his smiles are devastatingly beautiful and make her stomach clench in the best, most uncomfortable way.

"Pregnancies on my dimension normally only last a month; the child steals energy from its mother to grow faster. The stronger the blood line, the stronger the child."

"So, because you're a prince, he'll be strong?" She questions hopefully.

"No." He answers. "It'll be strong because he's _your _son." Then he leans towards her and kisses her tenderly on her lips, and these are the times she wonders, how could they not be in love? When she's wrapped in his arms and he's kissing her like he adores her and they fit perfectly together.

She doesn't know what to say, so she just presses her lips to his again and lets her head fall to his chest.

"So I'll only be pregnant for a month? I was looking forward to being pregnant for nine months." Raven pouts, and Azazel's thumb comes up and moves along her lip.

"I would say two to three months; because it will be a half breed."

"It." Raven murmurs, slightly disgruntled. It isn't an 'it'. He doesn't say anything straight away, just continues to hold her.

"Kyra." He says finally and her mouth forms a line while she thinks on it.

"Kyra?"

"Kyra." He confirms and she repeats it, letting it roll off her tongue.

"Why Kyra?" His finger makes a pattern on her stomach as she stares up at him.

"Kyra was my…" He pauses, and she loves the concentrated look he gets on his face when he tries to find the English to his Russian. "Grandmother's name. She was a very wise woman, and the first Queen my dimension had ever had; the previous Kings never married and only had concubines."

"Hm, I like it. So when she's born, we'll name her Kyra." Raven nods, and she gets the picture in her head again; of a red scale skinned girl with black hair and yellow eyes who can shape-shift. And her name is Kyra.

"How do you know it is a girl?" He asks and she shrugs.

"I don't know. But it's a girl. Kyra Darkholme. It fits." Azazel clears his throat and Raven frowns.

"Dante Wagner is a fake name Azazel, it doesn't count."

"Wagner is my family name." Raven giggles despite herself.

"Really? Ok, Kyra Darkholme-Wagner. Why didn't you say anything when we adopted Anna?" Azazel smirks.

"Her name is Anna-Marie Darkholme-Wagner also, I just never told you." He looks so satisfied in himself, and Raven smacks his chest and laughs. "What if she is a he?"

"I always wanted to name him Kurt. After Charles step-father." Her mood dims at the mention of Kurt _and _Charles, but she continues. "Kurt was… he was a strong man… and I never told Charles that I loved him as a father because he was the only father I had ever known. There was Alois, but he was a weak man, and there was the whole trying to kill me thing, but... My son would have to have a strong name because he will be strong."

He grunts in understanding, and his hand finds hers. Their fingers wined together and he pulls her to on top of him. She smiles down at him as he moves their hands to her stomach, and then she thinks she has the courage to tell him. She's never been in love before, but what she's feeling, now in his arms, is close enough to what Angel described.

"Azazel, I-"

"Mom!" Anna squealed, and Raven jumped in surprise. Anna soon joined them on the bed and sat snuggly next to Azazel. Azazel immediately let go of Raven and wrapped an arm around Anna, pulling her close and kissing her on the temple.

"What's up Baby?" Raven asks, and she moved to get off of Azazel, but his hand gripped her hip hard.

"Can I sleep with you and Daddy tonight?"

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Anna's eyes dart between Raven and Azazel before she grins.

"Nothing. The baby needs to know I'm there so she won't be lonely in mommy's tummy." Anna crosses her arms over her chest and raises her chin proudly. Raven tries not to smile too big, but she grabs Anna's shoulder and pulls her to her side, wrapping her up in her arms.

"Mooooom!" Anna squeals, trying to push Raven away, but Raven only ends up falling to the side and landing on Anna, Azazel's hand falls from her hip to her calf. Dangling on the both of them, Raven lets out a long, satisfied sigh while Anna screams from under her about her weight.

"You're too cute, Anna." Raven sighs, and she turns onto her stomach, resting her own arms on Anna's stomach.

"Mommy?" Anna questions loudly. "Can I have a baby tomorrow? I want to be a Mommy. I want to have a girl so we can play dress up." Azazel coughs behind them and Raven smiles.

"When you're older, but until then you can play with your brother or sister, ok?" Anna smiles wide.

"I want a little brother. I can dress him up too, right?" Azazel laughs behind her and Anna wiggles out from under Raven, crawling over to Azazel and nestling herself in his arms.

"Of course." Azazel says smoothly, and Raven giggles at the lie.

"Daddy?"

"Yes Anna?"

"Will Anna get red skin? Daddy is very pretty!" She squeals, and Raven moves herself around so she that she rests her head in Azazel's lap.

"Handsome sweetie." Raven corrects with a laugh. "I don't think Daddy likes the word pretty." Azazel levels Anna with a glare that has Anna squealing with laughter, and soon enough, Azazel has joined in as well.

xxxx

Raven couldn't explain what it was like to give birth, because she didn't really _give _birth, it was more like _I'll lay here, withering in pain for a few hours, then just when it feels like the pain is over, it kicks in again because my baby decides that it wants to _teleport_ out of me. _

Which, by the way, Raven said _hurt like a bitch_.

And the kid didn't even teleport to _her_, no. It teleported itself into the hands of Azazel, and though he'd had other peoples blood coating him like a second skin most of his life on Earth, has his face scrunched up in disgust at the blood all over his suit.

"Ughhh god!" Raven screams, clutching her stomach, and the doctors swarm her like bees, pressing around and trying to find the source of pain. The baby is screaming and Azazel is suddenly beside her and she hasn't seen her baby yet and everyone is rushing around her and they are so _loud _and the room is getting darker and Azazel's hands are forcing her to look at him.

He's smiling at her brightly, and then she isn't in the basement of the Brotherhood surrounded by doctors, she's in her room resting on her bed surrounded by pillows and a blanket thrown over her stomach.

"Hey there." Emma says, walking in with a glass of water. "How're you feeling?" She sits beside Raven and hands her the water. Raven groans as she struggles to sit up, and then Emma moves her hair from her face and forces her to drink.

"Like I'm on fire. Get the blankets off of me, please." Emma does as she asks and pulls away the blanket. "Thanks." She hands Emma back the glass and her head falls back. For a moment, she lets herself breathe a bit, but then she's shooting up, her eyes darting around wildly.

"He's downstairs with the doctor. They're giving their report on the baby." Emma smiles, rather happily, and grips Raven's hand. "Azazel won't let the baby out of his sight, and Anna is fussing so much. It's beautiful!"

"What is it?" Raven breathes out, smiling.

"I'm not telling. You passed out before they could tell you- I'm not ruining the surprise." Raven glares at Emma, but then the familiar sound of teleporting sounds through the room and then there's a baby on her bed.

A small baby, naked save for a nappy. It has black hair, blue skin, and fine blue/black fur covering its body. It blinks up at Raven with wide, yellow eyes, and Raven stares back.

"Kurt!" Azazel shouts before his form has begun to form fully. Azazel blinks at Raven, then his eyes land on the naked baby, then flick back to Raven and he grins.

"Kurt?" Raven asks tearfully, and Emma gets up and leaves the room. She reaches for him, and she picks him up and he's heavy and looks older than a newborn- around five months old already- with chubby cheeks and smiling gleefully up at her.

"A boy, yes." Azazel answers and he seats himself on the bad, placing a handful of baby clothes down. "He won't learn to teleport with his clothes still on for a while, so we will be picking up clothes everywhere." Azazel smiles, and Raven looks up from Kurt to Azazel then back again.

"He's _beautiful_." She whispers, running her hand through his hair. He watches her soundlessly, his hands flailing everywhere, but then… a tail. A thin, strong tail peeks out from behind him with its pointed end.

"He looks like you." Azazel nods, watching the tail wearily. A second later and the blood dripping from her face and coating the sharp tip of her sons tail tells her why. Azazel's hand darts out and grips the tail tightly, before he looks down at his son and smacks it.

Kurt blinks up at him, his lip starts to tremble and he lets out a scream, and Raven glares darkly at Azazel.

"Do not hit him!" She snaps. "He's a new born."

"It is the only way he will learn." He says smoothly, and pushes a soother past Kurt's lips. Kurt sucks greedily, while his tail lay limp at his side. "It is the only way he will learn." He repeats. "The tail is a weapon- an extension of our bodies that seems to have its own mind. When they grow older, they learn to use the tail as an extension." Azazel shrugs. "Until he learns," He picks up Kurt's tail and points to the middle of it. "You hit this spot, it shoots pain up and down the tail and the tail will become useless for an hour or so, but the pain will be constant."

Raven's eyes widen and she hugs her son, who she's only known for three minutes or so, to her tighter.

"That's horrible, Azazel!"

"It is the only way he will learn." He stresses the words and shrugs, and she glares at him.

xxxx

Raven eventually learnt that if she didn't want to deal with being chopped to pieces by her one month old son, she'd have to do the little smack thing that Azazel taught her, because Kurt did it _a lot_ and most of them were to her face and neck.

When he'd cut Anna's forehead, Raven set a steely resolve and smacked it. Kurt only cried for a minute or so, and then he teleported down to Emma.

Emma, along with everyone else, loved Kurt dearly- the women of the Brotherhood especially, while Anna wowed most of the older men who had lost daughters and granddaughters because of humans.

Kurt ages quickly- too quickly considering Azazel's immortality and Raven's slow age rate, but Azazel assured her _"He will age rapidly until he reaches puberty; he'll stay a teenager for at least thirty to forty years before he stops aging at thirty." _

So while Anna ages slowly, physically and mentally, Kurt ages and if she blinked an eye, she'd miss his whole childhood.

But for now, she holds her baby in her arms as he gurgles animatedly about something she didn't understand, his tail flying behind him with his excitement, his toy held tightly in his fist.

Erik is standing behind her, his own two children trying to gain Kurt's attention. They are twins; a girl named Wanda with brown hair and no mutation as of yet, and a boy named Pietro with stark white hair and superhuman speed. They are only seven, and two years ago they were dumped on Erik by the mother of the twins father, stating that the mother, Magda, had died in a human attack on their house; it had gone up in flames and her father, Szayel, has been able to get the twins out before they were killed as well.

Erik, in a display of vulnerability, anger and distraught, had _begged _Raven to help him. After she had helped settle the kids into bed (Anna had slept over to keep them comfort) he explained everything, everything that had happened when he disappeared for three months eight years ago, leaving the Brotherhood in disarray before Emma called Raven in to run it.

While in Germany, he met a woman named Magda Maximoff, a shy human woman who worked under her father at a secret mutant research facility. He'd gone there to investigate it; there had been good and bad things he'd heard about it and he wanted to know what they were doing.

He'd _kidnapped _Magda and forced her to tell him everything, and she revealed that her father is an extremely powerful mutant and was working to intensify a mutant's power, as well as make a counter cure for the cure that the Government were making; erase all mutation from a mutant.

This _cure _did the exact opposite; it intensified a mutant's power and gave gifts to ordinary humans.

In the three months Erik was with her… he didn't _fall _in love with her, not really, but Raven thought he might have fallen in love with the _idea _of her; a human so open to any race, willing to waste her life away just to perfect the world and have it ruled under a mutant.

Even a realist was allowed to dream.

Anyway, that didn't stop Erik from screwing her brains out, thus forming the twins. Erik knew about the twins, and he didn't think that _his _children should be raised near the Brotherhood, never mind that he pleaded with Raven to reconsider staying with him longer after she'd adopted Anna.

So Magda had brought them up as a single mother, and Raven didn't really know if Pietro's mutation was _real _or not.

Wanda squealed in excitement as Kurt's tail got closer to her, and Kurt's eyes focused on her quickly, alarmed at the sound, and he pulled his tail away, while Erik gripped her shoulder and laughed.

"He's just a baby, Wanda." Pietro snapped, his voice heavily accented. Wanda laughed.

"You wouldn't be saying that if it were Azazel's tail getting closer to you, boy." Erik said, and he grabbed Wanda's hand. "Come, Wanda. You need to get ready for school."

"What about Pietro!" She cried as he led her away, and Pietro laughed. Soon after, Kurt's tail snapped close to Pietro's eye and the boy squealed, chasing after his father and sister. Erik's low laugh sounded through the room and Raven kissed Kurt's temple.

"Good boy." She laughed.

xxxx

Out of nowhere, Azazel presented her with a ring. A simple ring; silver band that turned into hands that held a heart, which enclosed an oval shaped ruby and on top of the heart sat a detailed crown.

"What's this for?" She questions, and Azazel takes it back from her and smiles. For a moment she's confused, but then he grabs her left hand and slips the ring on her ring finger. It fits perfectly, and Raven _knew _that Emma helped him find the ring.

"Well, we _are _married." His smirk threatens to stretch across his face and her brows cress.

"Azazel," She pauses and his hand leaves hers to travel up her arm. "Are you… are you _proposing _to me?" She asks incredulously. His smile falters slightly and he nods. "…Why?"

"We are married." He repeats. "To the public. I don't see why we shouldn't be, _legally_, for a change." Raven looks down at the ring and her frown deepens. "Am I doing it wrong?" His confession laces his voice and she looks up.

"Did Emma tell you to do this?"

"No." He says. "We can only end up together, no? You and me, forever?"

"I'm not going to live forever Azazel." She explains. "I'll die in a few centuries, not live forever like you."

"I'll die eventually." His hand moves from her arm to her waist to pull her closer. "But I believe that my lengthy existence will be much more bearable if I had you by my side, even for a little while."

Raven looks up at him and her gut clenches. She grips the lapels of his jacket and lifts herself to her toes and kisses him, then bangs her fist against his chest and moves away from him.

"Wha-"

"You idiot!" She shouts with a laugh and pulls him close again, pressing a kiss under his chin and then resting her head on his shoulder.

He grips her hips and she can practically _feel _his confusion. "That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." She grins against his neck and he relaxes and lets out a breathy laugh.

"Silly woman." He says affectionately, she giggles, giddy with everything, and looks up at him.

"I never thought I would get married." She meant it casually, because no, she never did think she would marry, because for a while Charles had been the only mutant she knew and she could never marry a human.

"That's a shame." He says softly. "You are a beautiful woman." She shrugs and pulls away.

"Don't make this sad. I'm happy, you're happy. Let's go tell Anna." She grips his hand and turns towards the door. "She'll be ecstatic."

xxxx

Sorry about the late update! I've had writers/readers/vidders/budding graphic artist block! It's been horrible! _Should _be only one chapter left after this.


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